Install the Porter Operator

Install the Porter Operator

If you aren’t already familiar with Porter, we recommend that you install and use the most recent version of Porter v1 first and then once you are comfortable, learn how to automate Porter with the operator.

The commands below use the v0.8.0 release, but there may be a more recent release of the Operator. Check our releases page and use the most recent version number.

The Porter Operator is installed with … Porter! First, use explain to see what credentials and parameters you can use when installing and configuring the operator.

$ porter explain -r ghcr.io/getporter/porter-operator:v0.8.0
Name: porter-operator
Description: The Porter Operator for Kubernetes. Execute bundles on a Kubernetes cluster.
Version: v0.8.0
Porter Version: v1.0.0

Credentials:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name        Description                     Required  Applies To
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  kubeconfig  Kubeconfig file for cluster     true      All Actions
              where the operator should be
              installed

Parameters:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name                        Description                     Type    Default       Required  Applies To
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  installationServiceAccount  Name of the service account     string                false     configureNamespace
                              to run installation with.
                              If set, you are responsible
                              for creating this service
                              account and giving it required
                              permissions.
  namespace                   Setup Porter in this namespace  string  <nil>         true      configureNamespace
  porterConfig                Porter config file, in yaml,    file                  false     configureNamespace
                              same as ~/.porter/config.yaml
  porterRepository            Docker image repository of      string                false     configureNamespace
                              the Porter agent. Defaults to
                              ghcr.io/getporter/porter.
  porterVersion               Version of the Porter agent,    string                false     configureNamespace
                              e.g. latest, canary, v0.33.0.
                              Defaults to latest.
  pullPolicy                  Specifies how the Porter agent  string                false     configureNamespace
                              image should be pulled. Does
                              not affect how bundles are
                              pulled. Defaults to PullAlways
                              for latest and canary, and
                              PullIfNotPresent otherwise.
  serviceAccount              Name of the service account     string  porter-agent  false     configureNamespace
                              to run the Porter agent.
                              If set, you are responsible
                              for creating this service
                              account and binding it to
                              the porter-agent ClusterRole.
                              Defaults to the porter-agent
                              account created by the
                              configureNamespace custom
                              action.
  volumeSize                  Size of the volume shared       string                false     configureNamespace
                              between Porter and the bundles
                              it executes. Defaults to 64Mi.

Actions:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Name                Description                     Modifies Installation  Stateless
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  configureNamespace  Add necessary rbac, service     false                  false
                      account and configuration
                      to use Porter Operator in
                      a namespace. Creates the
                      namespace if it does not
                      already exist.
  removeData          Remove Porter Operator data,    false                  false
                      such as namespaces used
                      with configureNamespace,
                      configuration, jobs, etc.
                      These are not removed during
                      uninstall.

This bundle uses the following tools: exec, helm3, kubernetes.

To install this bundle run the following command, passing --param KEY=VALUE for any parameters you want to customize:
porter credentials generate mycreds --reference ghcr.io/getporter/porter-operator:v0.5.0
porter install --reference ghcr.io/getporter/porter-operator:v0.8.0 -c mycreds

Generate a credential set for the bundle, the only required credential for the operator is a kubeconfig for the cluster that the operator is to be installed in.

porter credentials generate porterops -r ghcr.io/getporter/porter-operator:v0.8.0

Install the operator into the porter-operator-system namespace:

porter install porterops -c porterops -r ghcr.io/getporter/porter-operator:v0.8.0

Create a namespace with the appropriate RBAC and configuration. This namespace is where you will create installation CRDs and the operator will create corresponding Jobs to execute the porter CLI.

porter invoke porterops --action configureNamespace --param namespace=TODO -c porterops

Notes

  • The operator installs a mongodb server in its namespace (with no password set for root). This is only suitable for testing the operator.
  • A PorterConfig resource named default is created in the specified namespace configuring Porter to use the kubernetes.secrets and mongodb plugin.

Configuration

The bundle accepts a parameter, porterConfig, that should be a YAML-formatted Porter configuration file.

Here is an example of the default configuration used when none is specified:

# Resolve secrets using secrets on the cluster in the current namespace.
default-secrets-plugin: "kubernetes.secrets"

# Use the mongodb server that was deployed with the operator
default-storage: "in-cluster-mongodb"
storage:
  - name: "in-cluster-mongodb"
    plugin: "mongodb"
    config:
      url: "mongodb://mongodb.porter-operator-system.svc.cluster.local"

You can use a different file when installing the operator with the --param flag:

porter install porterops --param porterConfig=./myconfig.yaml ...

The bundle also has parameters defined that control how the Porter Agent is configured and run.

Parameter Description
namespace Setup Porter in this namespace
porterRepository Docker image repository of the Porter agent.

Defaults to ghcr.io/getporter/porter.
porterVersion Version of the Porter agent, e.g. latest, canary, v0.33.0.

Defaults to latest.
pullPolicy Specifies how the Porter agent image should be pulled. Does not affect how bundles are pulled.

Defaults to PullAlways for latest and canary, and PullIfNotPresent otherwise.
serviceAccount Name of the service account to run the Porter agent.
If set, you are responsible for creating this service account and binding it to the porter-agent ClusterRole.

Defaults to the porter-agent account created by the configureNamespace custom action.
installationServiceAccount Name of the service account to run installation with.
If set, you are responsible for creating this service account and giving it required permissions.
volumeSize Size of the volume shared between Porter and the bundles it executes.

Defaults to 64Mi.

Inspect the installation

You can use the porter CLI to query and interact with installations created by the operator. Follow the instructions in [Connect to the in-cluster mongo database][connect] to point porter at the Mongodb server that was installed with the operator.

Next Steps